With the increased availability of high speed Internet connections, many devices have the ability to connect to remote services or sources. In addition, as the cost of high speed Internet connections decreases, many users may maintain a constant or near constant connection to the Internet. Furthermore, as wireless communications systems expand, users can connect to remote sources at many different locations, including far from the user's work, home or other areas where the user typically can access the Internet. For example, wireless communications networks have expanded to the point where a device can connect to the Internet on a mountaintop in nature (e.g., while skiing or hiking).
Because of the enhanced ability of devices to connect to the Internet as a user moves or travels, a user can make an increased use of remote storage. In particular, a user can store information in one or more remote locations, while knowing that the information can remain accessible so long as the user has an Internet connection available. This can allow a user to expand the amount of storage available to the user beyond the actual storage within the device (e.g., the storage of a hard drive or solid state drive in a device).
A device can connect to any suitable remote storage source to store or access content. In some embodiments, one or more cloud storage solutions can be available to a user. A cloud storage solution can typically include one or more racks of storage devices geographically located in one area and connected to each other and to the Internet. The storage devices can be managed by a system administrator, who ensures that all of the storage devices operate properly, run appropriate profiles, and manages the storage of information by users on the cloud storage. While such cloud storage may be of use to a user, it may also come at a cost. In particular, the cloud provider can charge a monthly or other recurring fee in exchange for use of the cloud storage. In addition, the cost of operating a cloud storage system can include not only material costs (e.g., storage devices) but also network administration costs. In particular, each time a user wishes to provide access to restricted content to another user, an administrator may be required to generate and provide the credentials to the other user, and to release access to the restricted content for the generated credentials. This can require both time and administrator resources.